


Love is Patient. Love is Kind. Love Will Make You Lose Your Mind.

by thegirlwiththedeathlyhallowstattoo



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: M/M, Post-War, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-10
Updated: 2017-08-08
Packaged: 2018-11-30 06:15:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 16,166
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11457693
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thegirlwiththedeathlyhallowstattoo/pseuds/thegirlwiththedeathlyhallowstattoo
Summary: In the wizarding world, corresponding tattoos show up on two soulmates skin when they come of age. Some are lucky enough to already know where to find their matching partner. Some are left to search. The last stable thing in Harry's life is taken by the soulmate tattoos. Might as well go back to school.





	1. Chapter 1

“Harry come on you can’t be late for the first day of classes” Hermione’s concerned voice rang up to the boy’s dormitory.  
It was bright and early on the morning of September 2nd, and Harry sat on the edge of his bed, gripping the bedspread and staring down at his trainers. Yes I very well fucking can be. He thought to himself irritably. Hermione wasn’t the boss of him. It was her stupid idea to come back to school even after what happened. Harry scowled and finally stood, figuring since he was here he might as well get on with it.  
As he entered the common room, Ron and Hermione quickly snapped apart from each other. They needn’t bother. Harry’s life had officially jumped the track over the past month and he knew his friends would talk about him. They were just worried. So was he, come to think of it.  
“Oh there you are! We can all head down to breakfast together then,” Hermione said, in a falsely cheerful tone. Harry merely grunted in response, causing her and Ron to exchange a concerned glance that just made Harry more tense.  
“Good to see you out of bed before noon, mate,” Ron joked weakly. Harry tried for even a pity smile but couldn’t muster it. After an uncomfortable pause they all turned to start walking down to the Great Hall. Ron and Hermione started to chat about something Harry didn’t care about (which wasn’t hard, as he didn’t care about anything anymore) during the walk and Harry’s mind began to wander back to the moment when his life had crumbled before his eyes for good.  
Following The War Harry had fallen into a deep depression. His purpose in life, from the age of one year old, had been to die at the proper time. Sacrificing himself was all he was good at, he had proved it time and time again. However he had lived. And now there were no more people to save, no more Dark Lords to defeat, no more need for Harry Potter.  
The light at the end of the tunnel was Ginny coming of age. Everything would be ok on August 11th when they woke up to find a small tattoo of a swishing wand, with a couple sparks coming from the tip every few minutes, on Ginny’s skin. Harry had been thinking about it for months, when they had their matching soulmate tattoos and could start planning the wedding. It had gotten him through his time in hiding and through the Battle of Hogwarts and through his terrible depression.  
But it hadn’t happened. Harry had woken on Ginny’s birthday to a sickening quiet throughout the house. As he entered the kitchen, the entire family turned their heads to look at him. They were surrounding Ginny and silently parted for him to approach her. When Harry’s eyes fell upon her hand resting palm-up on the table his stomach dropped so far it felt to be somewhere around his knees. Etched onto the wrist of her right hand was a fluttering golden snitch.  
Harry couldn’t breath. He passed out right then and there and when he came to the Weasleys were looking at him concernedly from across the room, while Hermione and Mrs. Weasley frantically fanned him and poured calming draughts down his throat.  
As soon as he was able, he got to his feet, chugged a dreamless sleep potion, headed up to Ron’s room and fell asleep on his camp bed without another thought.  
After he woke he stayed in that room for days. Nobody approached him; they knew Harry didn’t want their pity. He just wanted to sleep and brood and wonder where he went wrong.  
During his long stay in the bedroom, the only human contact he got was Mrs. Weasley or Hermione coming in and placing food on the dresser, offering a small smile, and then leaving. Harry sometimes ate and sometimes didn’t, and would then magic the dishes back downstairs. He waited until after they came to start drinking. He knew they knew, but he didn’t want them to see it.  
After 4 days had passed Harry found was able to dispel one of the tight knots in his stomach when he remembered where he had seen that exact fluttering snitch before: zooming around on the inside of Oliver Wood’s forearm.  
It made sense. Too much sense. Harry thought, as his triumphant feeling of remembering was quickly replaced by quesiness. He should have seen it coming. After being drafted into the league to play for the Harpies she hadn’t talked about anything else. Her obsession and fiery passion for her new career had often left him reminded of Wood but he never would have thought that that meant anything. But apparently it meant everything.  
The tattoo was supposed to represent something the two soulmates had in common and Harry had been sure the wand was going to stand for the time they spent in the DA and fighting side by side in the war. It wasn’t supposed to be something as trivial as a sport.  
However over the following weeks, through countless attempts to get him up and out of the house, Harry reflected over what this meant. He realized Ginny had told him time and time again that she would always put quidditch before everything, even her soulmate of it came to it. There was only one person on Earth who could understand that.  
Not that having this epiphany made Harry feel any better. He was honestly wondering if he could somehow vanish himself into non-being without anyone noticing, or maybe asking Ron to do it, when Hermione burst through the door with an armful of laundry and a brilliant smile.  
“Term starts tomorrow Harry! Better get all packed up,” She sang, tossing the robes into his trunk and adding a few textbooks from the floor for good measure. Harry simply gaped at her. It was really no secret that he hadn’t been a functioning member of society all summer, and after this latest blow to his psyche his substance abuse was pretty hard to overlook. Every surface of the room was covered in empty dreamless sleep vials and empty firewhiskey bottles. He was hardly in any fit state to go to school.  
Hermione seemed one step ahead of him, per usual. “Honestly Harry you can’t stay here. Ginny’s already off to training and all the other siblings have returned to their jobs. If Ron and I went to school without you that would leave you here with Molly and Arthur. Is that what you want?”  
“I suppose not,” Harry replied after a moment, “but why can’t you just help me move into Grimmauld Place?”  
“Harry James Potter That place is depressing enough without you in it. Now what you need is to regain structure. Even if you don’t want to be an Auror anymore, which I know you said earlier this summer, the NEWTs will remind you what your strengths are and you can go from there. I’ll help you pack,” she answered with an air of finality.  
“Harry. Harry. HARRY”  
Harry jerked back to reality, realizing that they had arrived at the Great Hall, and that he had probably been lost in his memories for a concerning amount of time. Hermione had actually yelled and shook his shoulder to attempt to retrieve him from his mind.  
“Sorry Mione,” he muttered with a sheepish attempt at a smile “Just tired” which all three of them knew perfectly well meant I’m more depressed than ever and withdrawal symptoms are kicking my ass. However they all chose to ignore it as they sat down at the Gryffindor table for breakfast.  
Harry had to admit everything was a little better being at Hogwarts. This was his home, and at least for a year he had a goal. Trying to pass the NEWTs was a decently healthy distraction from his existential crisis and broken heart. His coping skills had never been great and he had to admit that as always Hermione had been right. He could get better in a place where dreamless sleep and alcohol were inaccessible and getting sober was made easier by being surrounded by friends.  
The only problem was everyone else from their year seemed to have found their soulmates. Ron and Hermione had obviously been paired. In the midst of the War they had forgotten to check on Ron’s birthday, but later Hermione had noticed a small tattoo of a brain on Ron’s left shoulder and shrieked as she pulled away her robes to reveal a brain of her own under her left collarbone.  
Harry had thought it very funny that they shared the brain symbol. The only explanation seemed to be that Hermione had one of the most brilliant brains in the wizarding world, and Ron had been attacked by brains. However strange their symbol, no one could deny that they were the perfect couple. It’s actually kind of gross. Harry thought as he watched them practically eye-fucking over their breakfast.  
He peered further down the table and caught sight of Dean and Seamus, acting like nothing had changed, but Harry had seen the matching roaring lions on their biceps the night before while they had been changing into pyjamas, symbolizing their many years as roommates in the Gryffindor dorms. Or maybe how loud they are. Harry thought with a rueful smile, as he could hear them from the complete opposite side of the bench.  
He was trying to be happy for his friends, he really was, but it was hard not to be bitter. He noticed Luna had come over to sit next to Neville. She had told their story to Harry during a visit to the burrow over the summer.  
“You know Harry it’s fascinating really, this whole process,” she had started without so much as a hello, “I saw Nev working in his garden and he said he had found a foolproof way to keep nargles out of mistletoe and then he smiled up at me and said ‘that’s probably why I have this’ and wouldn’t you know it he showed me had a twinkling nargle tattoo on his right side ribs exactly matching the one I have! Of course I got so excited I immediately showed him mine even though it’s smack dab in the middle of my right buttox. Gave him quite a scare but then he finally saw it and it’s been like a fairy tale ever since,”  
Harry smiled at the memory and shook the mental image away, turning his gaze away from his friends and back to his breakfast. Not that he’d had much of an appetite lately, but seeing all the soulmate pairs made him lose the little he did have. He hated that once again he was stuck searching for something he had no idea how to find.  
He honestly wished that his tattoo was somewhere more visible, so that if it appeared on someone when they turned seventeen they could just let him know. The problem was his soulmate tattoo was directly over his right hipbone. A place no one would ever see unless he decided to show it. Harry had shown Ron, Hermione, and Ginny. He’d explained it to several others like the Weasleys and his dorm mates. None of them had come forward to tell Harry they’d seen anything like it. It seemed Harry was up creek without a paddle in this whole soulmate business.  
To make matters worse it could be literally anyone. He’s known for sometime that he was attracted to boys as well as girls which means his soulmate was going to be extra tricky to find with double the options of a straight or gay wizard. It really seemed like whoever was in charge of this (Cupid, maybe? The universe? Dumbledore?) was intentionally making it difficult.  
With that cheerful thought Harry checked his watch. Class started in fifteen minutes. He forced down a couple of mouthfuls of oatmeal with the intention of not passing out in double potions this morning.  
At first he thought the outbreak of muttering was coming from his friends. He figured they were shocked he was actually eating. Well mostly that he was actually eating something that wasn’t caldron cakes. But soon he realized the whole hall was abuzz and other houses definitely didn’t care about his eating habits so he looked around to try and locate the source of the excitement.  
It didn’t seem to be coming from the staff table, though interestingly enough each the faces of those seated there showed shock, with varying degrees of success in hiding it. Harry continued to scan the hall, eventually locating exactly what it was making everyone mutter and gasp.  
Harry’s jaw couldn’t help but drop as he saw a tall, thin figure with white-blonde hair reach the Slytherin table, hastily grab a muffin, turn on his heel, and walk back out of the hall. He would have seemed to be ignoring all the attention if not for a faint pink blush on his cheeks and neck.  
Draco Malfoy had returned to Hogwarts.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Potions class. Need I say more?

As Harry sat in the back of Advanced Potions a week later with Ron and Hermione, he couldn’t help but think that Malfoy coming back to Hogwarts to finish his NEWTs was the best thing happen to him in quite a while. It had been torture, everyone expecting him to act like a war hero when all he felt like now was a useless lush, but now the whole school was too busy talking about Malfoy and his motives to pay any mind to Harry, allowing him to nurse his headache in peace while Ron and Hermione discussed what Draco’s return could mean.  
It felt like a weird role reversal of sixth year, with Harry being apathetic and Ron and Hermione not shutting up about Malfoy.   
“It’s really unlike him. He usually only acts in his own self interest. What could he possibly have to gain from coming back here? He’s the only Slytherin from our year to come back besides Nott,” Hermione speculated for the fourth time  
“I dunno, love. All we can do is watch him for now. He hasn’t done anything shady yet, just kept his head down and gone to class,” Ron answered. Just like the other three times.   
Harry he found himself tuning in and out to their conversation. Sometimes hearing, sometimes doodling, sometimes just plain brooding. He himself had pondered a bit what Malfoy was doing at Hogwarts, but in the end it had just been added to the long list of things he used to be passionate about, but had lost passion for in the past few months. He just felt empty now. Sixth year he struggled to pay attention because of distractions, mainly Malfoy. Now he didn't pay attention in class but he didn’t pay attention to anything else. He just sat there existing until it was time to eat or sleep.   
Ron and Hermione had noticed. How could they not? He’d been answering them in one word more often than not and he hadn’t smiled in weeks. Ever since Ginny’s birthday he couldn’t muster even fake enthusiasm for anything.   
Thankfully it seemed Slughorn was wrapping up the instruction hour and it was time to prepare for the practical portion of the lesson. Harry had discovered the previous week that his new detached persona lent itself very nicely to the subtle science and exact art of potion making and as an added bonus it took his mind off of his constant despair for however short a time.   
Slughorn finished writing ingredients and instructions on the blackboard, then cleared his throat to make an announcement. “Alright everyo- Settle down! Settle down, my word. As I was saying, I know I let everyone make their own potions last week but the ingredients for this one are far more expensive, so I’m going to assign you all pairs. I hope everyone enjoys a fun new potion with a fun new friend!”   
Well shit.   
They all gathered at the back of the room to await their assigned partner. The pairs weren’t too awful; Ron got paired with Terry Boot from Ravenclaw, while Hermione ended up Padma Patil. Slughorn read names off his parchment until Harry realized there were only two people left unpaired  
Oh no Harry thought a split second before Slughorn said “Potter and Malfoy you’ll be working up here at this last bench,”   
Harry wordlessly packed up his bag and headed to the workspace Slughorn had indicated. Plopping himself down on the stool next to Malfoy, he retrieved his potions book and began searching for the potion they were supposed to make, which appeared to be something used for healing bad flesh wounds.   
After a full minute of silence, Malfoy cleared his throat. Harry ignored it. He did it again. Harry looked up.  
“So should we gather ingredients?” Malfoy asked tentatively. Merlin, he looked like he was bracing himself for a stinging hex. Harry realized that Malfoy had no idea about the absolute fuckery going on in his life. He was worried this was going to end with them at each other's throats the way they always had been as kids.   
Harry had testified at Malfoy and his mother’s trials, just because he owed each of them his life, and regardless of other actions, he wouldn’t have survived without them. They hadn’t spoken then and he really hadn’t expected to see or hear from Malfoy ever again. Now here he was asking Harry for instruction.   
“Yeah sure. I’ll get the flame to the right temperature while you’re up there” Harry offered in response. The most words he’d said in a row since he got to school.  
As Malfoy headed up to the supply cupboard, Harry set to work adjusting the fire. When he returned with the ingredients, Malfoy began cutting things to the appropriate size. Harry set to work preparing the potion by stewing and stirring the ingredients. After about half an hour the potion was mostly finished, it just needed to boil for 10 minutes. The potion was the perfect shade of silver for the stage it was at. Now they just had to wait.  
“So, not to be rude, but that the hell Potter? What’s up with you?” Malfoy said out of nowhere about two minutes into the boiling time. Harry merely gaped at him, unable to form a response to this entirely out of character question. Malfoy can tell there’s something up? And since when did he care about being rude?  
Malfoy seemed to understand he would get no response, and just continued talking. “I mean you haven’t spoken since you got to class unless I prompted you, and despite having never seen you brew a decent potion, besides that one weird stretch sixth year, this is damn near perfect. For Merlin’s sake, Potter if I’d said these exact things to you any other year at Hogwarts you would have jinxed me into next week already. So what’s going on?”  
Harry processed all this slowly and then finally formulated a response of “Nothing much, what’s going on with you?” and then cringed at how absolutely absurd that sounded.   
For the second time that potions class, the absolutely last thing that Harry expected to happen, happened. Malfoy threw his head back and laughed. He laughed until tears started to creep to the corners of his eyes and then he took a deep breath and wiped them away, saying “Feel free to stay in this angsty, evasive mood forever, Potter, it’s all the more amusing to me. Damn if you’d been this funny when we were kids maybe we could have been friends,”  
Oh thank god Malfoy thought he had been joking. At least he could save face. Although he didn’t really care what anyone, especially Draco Malfoy thought about him at this point.   
“I’m glad to be of service, Malfoy,” Harry replied, and for the first time in months he felt the faintest flicker of a smile pull at the corners of his mouth.  
Right at that moment the timer for their potion went off. Harry busied himself with bottling the potion. When he had a flask filled and labeled, he put it in the tray at the front of the class and returned to sit next to Malfoy. They had finished with about fifteen minutes to spare, and no one else in the class had finished yet.   
With no desire to continue conversing, Harry pulled out some homework to work on. His mind was still buzzing. He had felt emotions for the first time in weeks today. Not necessarily good ones, mostly shock, some embarrassment, and the smallest sliver of amusement, but after feeling absolutely nothing for so long, it had been exhausting.   
The tone for class to end sounded, and Harry hadn’t accomplished anything. It was strange to have something to think about other than despair and school, but he had thought for almost a quarter of an hour about the conversation he’d just had, and the strange effect it had had on him. It was a pleasant change, he thought as he packed up his essay, a nice break from the monotony.   
Ron and Hermione were still hurriedly trying to finish and bottle their potions with their partners, no doubt because they had been talking and teasing each other from across the room through much of the class, so Harry gave them a little wave to indicate he was going to head to his next class, which was Herbology. He didn’t feel too bad, given that Hermione had Arithmancy and Ron had a free period so it’s not like they would walk together anyway.   
He hitched his bag up his shoulder and headed out into the hall, the first one to leave class as usual, walking quickly with his head down as he had become to used to doing the past few days. However his routine was abruptly halted as he heard his name from down the hall.   
“Potter! Oi Potter! Wait up,” No way. It couldn’t be.   
Harry turned around to see Malfoy hurrying toward him. When he reached Harry he took a second to catch his breath and then said “You left before you heard the homework. He wants a foot of parchment on the blood replenishing potion we just made, due for next class. I figured since we made such a great potion today, we could work on it together. Not today of course no one can handle that much potions in one day, but maybe tomorrow? After dinner?” He said all of this very fast and without taking a breath, and when he finished he looked up at Harry expectantly.  
“Uh. Sure,” was all Harry could get out by way of a response. But that seemed good enough for Malfoy who smirked before turning on his heel and heading to his next class.  
As Harry crossed the grounds to the greenhouses, he wondered if he had done something that would make it his fault that his life was so bizarre, or if he had just truly lost control.


	3. Chapter 3

The next evening Harry sat in the library feeling rather silly. He knew he shouldn’t, because anyone looking at him would just think he was busy studying; they would never know that he was anxiously waiting for the infamous Draco Malfoy. He wondered why he was so anxious and more importantly how anxiety had penetrated his numbness. Maybe it was a survival instinct; one of them usually ended up almost dying whenever they came into contact with each other.  
Harry snapped his head up so fast he gave himself whiplash for the fifth time in as many minutes as someone entered the library. Once again, it wasn’t Malfoy, so he turned his eyes back to his transfiguration textbook to continue to stare at it without taking in a single word, per usual these days. Blimey, he thought to himself, he certainly was antsy. He felt ready to hit the ceiling at the slightest provocation .  
And hit the ceiling he did when a platinum blonde figure sat itself in the open seat right across from him while he was lost in thought. As he tried to compose himself, meanwhile continuing to struggle back onto his seat, he greeted the new arrival.  
“Hullo Malfoy’” Harry managed, still breathing heavily from his scare “dinner good tonight?”  
“Merlin Potter you’re certainly a sight. I didn’t mean to startle you; I thought you saw me come in.” Malfoy responded with an eyebrow cocked, completely ignoring the question.  
“Didn’t you know?” Harry said flatly “Nothing can startle me ever again. It’s a side effect of defeating a psychotic snake man,” He had responded before he’d even had time to think. If he was being honest with himself, he just wanted to make Malfoy laugh again, and the other boy did not disappoint. He threw his head back and roared with laughter.  
“Harry Potter,” Malfoy held his hands up as if to frame the name “vanquisher of evil, hero of the Wizarding World, master of dry wit. You should get that on a business card.”  
Harry couldn’t help himself. He grinned. Showing all his teeth and everything. He hadn’t used those muscles in weeks and they felt strained from lack of use but he didn’t care. Malfoy seemed to know just what to say to make him feel, well not exactly happy, but certainly less lost.  
Harry held up his hands mimicking the motion “Yeah and while I’m there I’ll print some for you. Draco Malfoy: not as big a prat as he used to be,”  
Malfoy folded his hands and nodded solemnly before saying “Yes I’ve worked very hard to earn that credential, first in my family to graduate, as a matter of fact,” and then he shot a smirk up at Harry, though his eyes were still twinkling with humor.  
The noise Harry let out was comparable to the sound a very old dusty bagpipe would make if you whacked it quite hard with a tennis racket. He had not laughed in so long it seemed he had rather forgotten how. But now here he was, experiencing undeniably positive emotions for the first time in months, and it was with Draco Sodding Malfoy.  
“Fuck, Potter” Malfoy said after they’d both calmed down. “I haven’t seen you like this for years. I was hoping that cheeky bastard wasn’t gone forever.”  
I’m certain I have no idea what you’re talking about, Malfoy.” Harry said, trying his best to look innocent.  
“Yeah ok Mr. ‘there’s no need to call me sir, professor’ oh and let’s not forget ‘funny, you’d think I’d have stopped walking around’ which is a personal favorite of mine, though in my teenage angst it made me quite angry. I guess it’s good to know you’re still you.”  
“Yeah, I’m still me” Harry said “just a...rough summer I guess. Uh. Yeah.” He finished uncomfortably, rubbing the back of his neck. He felt as though Malfoy really didn’t care about his life all that much. They were just potions partners trying to leave the past behind them, he reminded himself. Who also share the same sense of humor, a mutinous voice in the back of his head added.  
However, Malfoy was staring at him intently, cool grey eyes boring into his own. “Potter,” he began tentatively “what did happen to you this summer, if you don’t mind me asking?”  
Evaluating the situation in his head, Harry came to the conclusion that it couldn’t hurt to just fill Malfoy in on the basics. It’s not a crime to be curious, after all and maybe talking about it would make him feel better. “The end of The War hit me pretty hard. And then finding out Ginny isn’t my soul mate was kind of the straw that broke the camel's back. I turned to liquor and dreamless sleep mostly. I owe everything to Hermione really she got me to come back and I am getting better, honest.” he hadn’t intended to say that much. And why was it so important that Malfoy believed he was getting better? Oh well. He’d made it this far. “It’s actually nice to talk to someone not already paired off. They mean well but it’s exhausting,” Only then did he manage to stop the word vomit flowing from his mouth.  
Malfoy chuckled softly and shook his head “I don’t put much stock in those tattoos. I’ve never seen one anything like mine. I’m not really on the lookout for it. I guess I just don’t think tattoos should determine your life,”  
“Ya know Malfoy, that weirdly made me feel a lot better. Thanks” Harry responded with a smile, knowing that there was a little bit of a double meeting behind the statement “I guess I never really considered the tattoos could be like the prophecies in the Department of Mysteries. They might only mean something if you let them.”  
Malfoy let out a low whistle. “Well on that existential note shall we start on this complete waste of time, I mean, essay?”  
Harry dragged his eyes back from where he was staring out the window over Malfoy’s shoulder to meet his piercing gaze. For some reason the eye contact made him smile. “Yeah, sounds good I’ll grab my book.”  
The mood immediately lightened. He was immensely relieved that Malfoy hadn’t asked what his soulmate tattoo was. He had shared a lot of information during that conversation, and that would have been just a bit too personal. He also wasn’t sure that he would have had the ability to say no if Malfoy had asked him to describe it.  
They dove into the tiny details of the potion they had brewed the previous day. The worked intently, showing each other things they found and adding notes to their essays. A little over an hour later, Harry was scanning the text for the properties of olibanum that were brought out by the stewing process they had used, when movement from Malfoy’s side of the table caught his eye. When he realized that he was just rolling up his sleeves, he went to return to his work, but did a double take.  
“Holy shit, Malfoy!” Harry exclaimed loudly, earning his a shush and a withering glare from Madam Pince. “What the bloody hell is that?” he asked, switching to a hoarse whisper.  
Malfoy’s left forearm, the one with the Dark Mark on the inside, was covered in a sleeve of tattoos. It was composed of mostly flowers, although Harry thought he could see part of an outline of Hogwarts peeking out from the cuffed sleeve. They were obviously magical, seeing as some of the leaves swayed in the breeze, and the lights in the windows of Hogwarts flickered. The Mark was still there but it was hardly noticeable surrounded by so much art. It was incredible. Harry realized he had forgotten to breathe, he was so overcome with how beautiful it was.  
Malfoy watched Harry staring at his arm for a moment before answering. “They’re tattoos Potter. I told you I don’t think tattoos should determine your life, so I made the tattoos represent my life. You can find all the aspects of my life within the sleeve. The Mark represents my mistakes. But then there are happier parts like the flowers. They all mean things based on the flower code from Victorian times. Pansy and I used to send messages using flower code when we were kids and I’ve always been fascinated by flowers so it seemed fitting. And Hogwarts was part of my life for so many years, and I always considered it a home, so of course it’s there. I don’t know when I decided it would be a whole sleeve, it just kind of happened, but I like it.”  
He said this all very softly, while tracing the images on his arm. For a moment Harry had the insane urge to bat Malfoy’s hand away and trace the lines himself. After a moment of silence, Harry found the words he’d been trying to utter. “It’s perfect.”  
Malfoy looked up at Harry with his eyes wide and a faint blush on his cheek. “Th-thank you, Potter. I’m glad you like it. I’ve never showed it to anyone before. I kinda forgot to keep it covered just now honestly. I always assume people around here will just think I’m trying to hide the Mark. It’s not like that though it’s supposed to be symbolic of me growing while still acknowledging the past, I suppose.”  
“Malfoy, I never thought I’d say it, but you’re a pretty interesting bloke. And I’m pretty sure I’d like to get to know you better. Who knows! Maybe at long last I’ll take you up on that offer to be friends. We can hang out this weekend in Hogsmead” Harry replied, attempting to recreate Malfoy’s signature smirk.  
It must have kind of worked, because a spark of amusement appeared in Malfoy’s eyes “Well Potter, that’s very bold of you, assuming that the offer still stands,” Malfoy teased, crossing his arms and turning away slightly.  
“Well fine then be that way. Guess I’ll just have to wander into Hogsmeade and blindly pick a parlor to get a magic tattoo done at. Then you’ll have my shitty tattoo on your conscience.” Harry sighed, and began to pack up his books.  
That got Malfoy’s attention. “Wait wait. Damn it Potter you win. I will not have Witch Weekly running hate articles about me because I’m to blame for an imperfection on the Boy Who Lived. We can go into Hogsmeade this weekend and I’ll introduce you to my artist.”  
Harry looked up at Malfoy beaming. “Excellent. It’s a date then. Well not a date, but, whatever I’m not gonna make this weird. But anyway Hogsmeade this weekend. Be there or be square. I’m gonna start thinking up what tattoo I want to get.” He knew he was rambling a little bit but he didn’t care, he knew this was just what he needed. It seemed fitting to combat a tattoo he couldn’t control with one he could. “And since you’re introducing me to something new, I’ll introduce you to something new. So dinner’s on me.”  
With that, Harry got up to leave but Malfoy grabbed his sleeve to stop him from leaving. “Potter, that was pretty ominous. You’re really gonna leave on that note?”  
“You know it, Ferret” Harry replied with a cheeky grin.  
That caused Malfoy to release his sleeve due to shock, but a second later he snorted with laughter. “Keep that up Scarhead, and you won’t have a companion to Hogsmeade after all,” Malfoy warned. “Ya know what, just call me Draco ok? Since apparently we’re friends now.”  
Harry looked taken aback for just a moment before smiling. “Ok Draco, and call me Harry, then. However I also respond to ‘most handsome wizard in the world’”  
Draco rolled his eyes and slung his bag over his shoulder. “Goodnight Harry,” he emphasized the given name “See you this weekend.” And with that he headed towards the Slytherin dungeons.  
Once he was out of sight, Harry turned and headed towards the Gryffindor common room, but he took the long way. No one had gotten him to talk/smile/laugh this much since the war ended. He had a lot to think about.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In my mind the part of Draco's tattoo that's showing is the silhouette of Hogwarts with windows that turn on and off wrapped around his forearm right under the crook of his elbow. The flowers surrounding the Dark Mark wrap all the way around his forearm and are a collage statice for remembrance, Queen Anne's lace for sanctuary, gladiolus for strength of character, and roses for love. He has his mother and father's birthdays in roman numerals wrapping around his wrist. The sleeve continues all the way up to his shoulder but I haven't tried to think of the top talk yet.


	4. Chapter 4

“Harry you can’t be serious,” Hermione was standing over him as he sat on a couch in the common room later that night, fixing him with a quizzical look, “You two have had, what, two conversations and now you’re going with him to get a tattoo? Is this some sort of weird coping mechanism for you?”  
When Harry had gotten back to the common room he had decided that his childhood habit of sneaking around had always come around to bite him in the arse so he had told Hermione his weekend plans.  
“Mione it’s really not that big of a thing. I just need a little change of pace. It’s not going to be anything life changing.” Harry didn’t know why he was defending himself. He knew full well that this was absolutely crazy. It felt like what he needed to do though.  
Hermione sighed “Why can’t you just come to Hogsmeade with me and Ron? I know that you’ve had a rough few months, Harry but does this really seem rational?”  
“When have I ever been rational?” Harrys faced her with a triumphant smirk, choosing to ignore the first question, not wanting to get into how insufferable the newly soul-mated were, “See, this is me returning to normal! You should be happy for me!”  
Hermione rolled her eyes and began to pace in front of him. “You know what? Compared to the substance abuse, making a new friend and decorating yourself are a fabulous step forward. Perhaps I should be celebrating. I’ll just throw you a damn party,” She stopped pacing and turned to face him. “For Merlin’s sake Harry I’m not actually mad and I know you know that, I’m just worried about you. You haven’t been happy in so long.”  
Harry cast his eyes down at the carpet “I know. It’s all I want. For my sake, yeah but for you and Ron too. And for Ginny and Molly. I know I’m worrying everyone. I just...I don’t know. Hermione, I’m trying to not go mad I really am but I don’t think I can stop it.”  
Oh shit, Harry thought, it’s happening again. It hadn’t happen since he’d returned to Hogwarts, but whenever he started to get truly overwhelmed by his all consuming emptiness and despair, his head started swimming and he felt like he was leaving himself behind, like his psyche was falling apart piece by piece, and then later he would have to put it back together. It was one of the reasons he had turned to drinking. He wanted to be in control if he was going to lose of his grasp on reality.  
Hermione’s brow furrowed has Harry looked up at her, eyes wide with panic. Harry had never tried to explain the phenomenon to anyone, but of course everyone at the house over the summer had noticed him leaving meals and gatherings in a hurry. She looked helpless and Harry, knowing that there was nothing she could do, reigned himself in just long enough to arrange his face into a neutral expression and excuse himself.  
After he clambered through the portrait hole with Hermione looking unconvinced after him, he realized that he needed somewhere to go now, and he couldn’t go down the the Hogshead and get hammered, as it was after curfew and Hermione would very well kill him if he relapsed just days after his withdrawal symptoms had for the most part subsided.  
Harry sighed. He couldn’t lie to himself, he’d known where he wanted to go the moment his episode had started and even now his feet were carrying him through the castle.  
He needed to see Draco. He wasn’t entirely sure why, his mind was clouded and disturbingly empty, but he knew that he hadn’t been quite so empty when he’d been in Draco’s company lately.  
Before he’d really even understood what he was doing he found himself waiting outside the Slytherin dungeons. As it was rather late, though students were not yet required to be in their dorms, so Harry just paced in front of the entrance for a while. After a few moments, a Slytherin girl, who couldn’t have been older than third year, came trudging up to the entrance. She was obviously exhausted and irritated with whatever she’d been working on, and glared at Harry for blocking the door.  
“What do you want?” she snapped at him, more aggressively than strictly necessary, in Harry’s opinion. He was rather fragile at the moment.  
“I, er, I, uh, I need to talk to Draco can you, um, get him, uh, please?” Harry managed to get out, only by squeezing his eyes tightly shut and focusing very hard.  
Suspicion flickered across her face but then her desire to go to bed seemed to win out and she simply shrugged, said “Sure,” and went inside.  
A moment later Draco’s head peeked around the door to the dungeons. His eyes widened almost comically when he saw Harry. “Blimey, Harry I didn’t believe Sam when she said you were out here. She hasn’t slept in days I thought she was hallucinating. You look like hell, dear god. Come in, then.”  
He stepped aside to let Harry walk by him into the common room. It was completely empty which even in Harry’s stress addled mind didn’t seem right. There were always people in the Gryffindor common room until at least midnight.  
“There’s no one here,” Harry said, trying and failing to seem normal and also slightly wondering why he had let himself come see Draco. Although he had to admit he somehow felt better being here.  
Draco raised an eyebrow at him “Well, why would they be?” he retorted.  
“Is everyone asleep?” Harry asked incredulously.  
That just made Draco look even more confused “Of course not, everyone’s either in their studies or living areas in the dorms,” realization dawned on his face “You don’t have those do you? I’ve never been in any other houses. Come here I’ll show you”  
As they headed into the hall that Harry had been right in assuming lead to the dormitories, he heard laughter coming from an opening up ahead. As they passed Harry noticed that it was set up like a living room, equipped with large squashy looking black leather couches and some tables and rugs, as well a small area for making tea in the corner. The room was lit by a beautiful glass chandelier full of candles, and there was a large circular window looking out into the lake.  
“I think that one belongs to the class of 2000” Draco said, half to himself, “There’s one for every year, but since it’s just me and Theo ours is always empty. We can go there.”  
Harry followed him past several more of the rooms until they finally came to the very end of the hallway where there was one of the living rooms with no one in it.  
“Go ahead and sit down if you like. I’ll make tea” Draco said while striding over to the small stove located in the corner beneath a larger Slytherin banner.  
“Thanks,” Harry muttered as he slowly sank into the leather of the sofa and sighed with relief. It was very comfortable and even though it made no sense to him, seeing Draco coupled with the change of scenery had really helped him regain control of his mind. He felt as though he had returned back to his senses and when Draco returned with tea he took it and sipped it. He wasn't surprised that it was very good tea indeed. He’d figured that tea was something Draco was very particular about.  
They sat in silence side by side for a while, before Harry decided to speak. “Sorry for barging in on you so late. It’s just that I told Hermione I was getting a tattoo and she went off on a rant and I got into such a state that I was worse than I have been in a while, and since we’re friends now I figured I’d come and talk to you and-”  
“Christ, Potter take a breath or you’ll pass out,” Draco cut him off with a chuckle. “First of all, I can’t believe you told Graner, you had to know she’d freak out. And second of all, you don’t look as completely batshit crazy as when you got here but I’m still gonna go grab you something.”  
Draco got up and went back to what Harry presumed were the dormitories, before returning with a bottle of pale blue liquid in his hand.  
“It’s a calming draught I brew myself,” he explained upon seeing Harry’s questioning look “It’s not addictive like dreamless sleep, I’m not trying to mess with your recovery, it just really helps you get in the right state of mind to be at peace. Helps with the nightmares without just knocking out emotion altogether. Here have a dose,” he added, and poured a splash of it into Harry’s tea.  
“Thanks” Harry said and took a sip. It made the tea taste even better and just a few moments later he had emptied his mug. As soon as he’d finished he immediately felt the effects of the potion. He felt very peaceful. Draco was right though, it wasn’t like dreamless sleep; he wasn’t just surrendering himself over to be knocked out. It was more like he could now partake in any calming activity with ease, and that included sleeping.  
The traitorous voice in his head pointed out that the potion only seemed to amplify the feeling of safe contentedness he seemed to have around Draco anyway.  
“This is amazing,” Harry told Draco as his eyelids began to become heavy “I can’t believe you invented this. This could help so many people, especially people like us who endured The War.”  
“Well that’s sort of what I want to do when I get out of here,” Draco answered looking a little embarrassed as a blush crept up his cheeks “You know, design potions.”  
“That’s a fabulous idea,” Harry smiled broadly at Draco. He really wanted to touch him, just to be in contact with him. It seemed like that would make everything alright.  
The corners of Draco’s mouth turned up as he leaned back into the couch “I’m glad you approve. I haven’t run the idea by anyone yet so positive feedback is highly appreciated.”  
Harry was almost unable to keep himself awake any longer, but there was something he wanted to tell Draco, “There’s something I wanted to run by you too,” he said, stifling a yawn. “I decided what I want my tattoo to be.”  
Excellent! What is it?” Draco asked excitedly.  
“A lily” Harry said with a small smile, “just to commemorate my mother and everything she did for me. Did for everyone really. I think she’d really like being art, as cheesy as that sounds.”  
Draco looked at Harry like he was just now seeing him for the first time, “That’s beautiful Harry, I’m excited to take you.”  
With that, Harry couldn’t stay awake any long. He was so tired that all his self control had vanished, and he simply swung his feet onto the couch and rested his head in Draco’s lap. He felt him stiffen and then relax, and then felt a blanket being conjured to cover him. He had almost slipped away into sleep when he could have sworn he felt fingers run through his hair, and with that he was out like a light.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter literally came to me while I was dozing off and I had to write it all down immediately so I wouldn't forget.


	5. Chapter 5

Harry awoke the next day to faint green light streaming in through the window. He knew it had to be very early and when he checked his watch it read almost a quarter past six. Breakfast wouldn't even start for over an hour and he felt a bit grimy still in his robes from yesterday so he decided he was due for a shower.  
He felt he should be slightly embarrassed for falling asleep on Draco the night before, but he couldn’t bring himself to be. It was some of the best sleep he’d had in months and his new friendship with Draco was doing wonders for his state of mind.  
He was just vanishing the pillow and blanket that Draco had conjured for him during the night, when Draco himself appeared in the doorway leading to the dorms. Harry turned to tell him thank you for the tea and sympathy but the words left his brain the moment he took in Draco’s appearance.  
“You heading out Harry?” he stifled a yawn, rubbing his eyes.  
Harry’s mind had gone completely blank. Draco was wearing nothing but a pair of blue and white striped pajama bottoms, and his long lean form was almost glowing in the morning light, his skin was so fair. However, the chiseled lines of his abdomen were merely an afterthought. Draco’s sleeve was fully on display in all it’s glory and Harry was finding it hard to breath. Draco looked like every model Harry had ever sought out in his hours of flipping through magazines while he had been trying to figure out his sexuality. Everything was perfect from his porcelain complexion to his sleep-tousled platinum hair. He was exactly Harry’s type. Shit.  
“Uh. Uh yeah.” Harry spluttered, tripping over his robes as he backed out of the room “Just going to grab, uh, a change of clothes.”  
Draco didn’t seem to notice anything was amiss, but perhaps he was just a mess all the time these days and Draco was used to it “Alright well I’ll see you in potions, then later for Hogsmeade. Meet in the entrance Hall at seven-ish?”  
“Sure, yeah, awesome, sounds good,” Harry said, and before Draco could say anything else he promptly sprinted out of the room and down the hall and out of the common room.  
Once he got up to Gryffindor tower, he immediately headed to the bathrooms and took an and nice, long, ice cold shower. He then proceeded to dress and sit on the couch, waiting for Ron, who appeared ten minutes later to head to breakfast.  
“Harry you look...normal,” Ron said, as his face split into a grin.  
“What do you mean?” Harry asked, tilting his head questioningly.  
Ron looked positively elated “Mate, it’s incredible. You look rested, not hungover, your eyes are bright and your color is a natural human color instead of all pasty like it has been.”  
Harry stared at Ron in disbelief. He was right. It hadn’t really registered with Harry until now, but he really felt ok. And it wasn’t a potion or anything. His heart didn’t feel quite so broken and his head didn’t feel quite so full. For the first time in so long he was simply existing satisfactorily. He felt like Harry. It was such an incredible feeling that Harry couldn’t contain his smile. He beamed at Ron before saying “You know what? You’re right. I feel reborn.”  
They then proceeded to head down to the Great Hall for breakfast, and Harry could actually partake in complaining about classes and laughing at Ron’s impressions of teachers. Even when Hermione joined them, along with Seamus and Dean, Harry’s mood couldn’t be hurt by the happy couples.  
Everyone seemed to notice, but no one mentioned it, Harry assumed for fear of undoing whatever it was. Hermione actually hugged him when they got up to go to class and she had tears in her eyes when she told him he looked like the Harry she remembered.  
After this slightly embarrassing display, the three of them headed off to potions. Upon entering the dungeon Harry strolled over to sit down next to Draco without a second thought. Very soon after he regretted this decision, however, as Draco smiling at him caused him to very nearly fall off his stool. How had he never noticed how dazzling that smile was? He somehow managed to compose himself, and as Slughorn called the class to order.  
“Thanks for listening and the potion and helping me calm down last night,” Harry whispered to Draco while Slughorn droned on about methods for thickening uncooperative potions.  
Draco didn’t look up from his notes but he chuckled softly and replied “Anytime Scarhead but don’t tell anyone. It’ll hurt my reputation as a big bad deatheater.”  
Harry snorted out a laugh and returned his attention to taking notes. He focused as best he could, but he couldn’t help but notice the way Draco’s hair fell into his eyes so artfully, or the long elegant fingers that held a quill just so to produce beautiful handwriting. How had he not noticed these things before? They made him feel nauseous.  
It wasn’t double potions today so once the instructive hour was over they began to pack up their bags and leave. “See you at seven,” Draco said, nudging Harry and heading to his next class, leaving Harry to feel the warmth from Draco’s touch all the way back to the common room.  
\----------------------  
Being an eighth year had its advantages, and one of those advantages was only having one class on Fridays. However, this particular Friday, Harry spent all his time after class had ended pacing his room, attempting to pick out an appropriate outfit for a not-date with Draco Malfoy, and scrutinizing his appearance in the mirror.  
Ron and Hermione were too busy congratulating Harry on his return to relative normality to notice how nervous he was, which was just as well to Harry. Explaining he had recently discovered he was insanely attracted to Draco would not be an enjoyable experiance.  
As seven rolled around, Harry made his way down to the Entrance Hall. He saw Draco standing there with his hands in the pockets of his grey slacks and wearing a pale blue button down shirt rolled up to the elbows to reveal the lower half of the tattoo. Harry swallowed thickly remembering his view this morning.  
He felt slightly self conscious in his T shirt and jeans, but walked up to Draco with a grin, his heart beating a million times a minute.  
“Ready to go?” Harry gestured towards the door.  
“It’s about time you showed up, Potter,” Draco said in his most pompous drawl, but the effect was ruined by his very undignified snort of laughter.  
Damn it, Harry thought, he just keeps falling further.  
“Yeah, yeah my time keeping is abysmal, I have no sense of urgency, I’ve heard it all before,” Harry responded with a wink. “Now where’s this tattoo place?”  
“Come on it’s not that far,” Draco began to walk down the path, motioning for Harry to follow.  
They walked towards Hogsmeade in a comfortable silence. There were quite a few students out on the grounds enjoying the still warm weather, and a few other eighth years were headed to Hogsmeade, as they were allowed to go on the weekends, so long as they were back by curfew.  
Once they got to Hogsmeade they only passed three store fronts before Draco came to a halt outside a shop with a bright neon sign in the window that read “WANDS AND NEEDLES: WIZARDING TATTOOS”  
When they entered the shop, a woman with bright pink hair and and eyebrow ring looked up from the desk and her face lit up.  
“Draco! Welcome back in! Are you adding to that sleeve today?” She asked cheerily.  
“Not today Gena,” Daco said, giving the woman a quick hug and then pointing to Harry “But, my friend Mr. Potter here would like to get his first tattoo.”  
Her eyes flicked up to his scar but she didn’t react besides smiling and pulling him over a chair for the consultation, and in that moment Harry decided he liked her.  
A little while later, once Harry was positive that Gena knew exactly what he wanted, he was shirtless on the table and she was at work with the gun in one hand and her wand in the other, tattooing and charming as she went.  
It felt like a great way to stick it to the man, marking his body with what he wanted instead of just dealing the soul mate tattoo. This way he had the last word; he was in control of his life, not that stupid wand.  
After what felt like forever, she pulled back, declared she was finished, and Draco, who had been watching the whole process, gasped.  
“What is something wrong?” Harry asked suddenly panicked.  
Draco rolled his eyes at Harry “No, nothing like that. It’s just honestly beautiful. She did a great job.”  
Harry got up and walked over to the mirror and observed the lily on his right shoulder blade. He couldn’t pull his eyes away. It was gorgeous, and swayed as though a lazy summer breeze was blowing, just like outside. He reached up to touch it and it closed at his touch, blooming again as he pulled his fingers away. “Incredible.” he whispered to himself.  
When Harry had finally looked his fill he put his shirt back on and paid for his tattoo, leaving Gena a very generous tip because it was, as Harry told Draco on the way out, “the most beautiful magic he’d ever seen.”  
Once they left the shop, Harry feeling elated and Draco beaming so bright it lit up the square, they began walking towards the Hogs Head.  
“I thought you said you were showing me something new. The Hogs Head isn’t exactly groundbreaking, Harry,” Draco said distractedly as he observed the window displays they passed.  
Harry grinned wickedly and grabbed Draco’s hand “I just needed to get us out of sight.” and with that they disapparated.  
They arrived in an alleyway in muggle London and Harry pulled Draco along down the street to a small dingy restaurant. The bell tinkled as they entered and a harassed looking Asian man appeared behind the register.  
“Two orders of curry please, and make one extra spicy,” Harry told the man, and then gave him some muggle money. The man then disappeared to the back to prepare the food.  
“There’s nowhere to sit in here, Potter,” Draco stated looking around and taking everything in. Blimey he was cute when he was confused.  
Fuck. He was a goner.  
“Right you are, Draco. I am introducing you to the wonder that is take-out Thai food,” Harry responded.  
At that moment the man came back with a bag that Harry happily took, and they left the restaurant. Once they got back to the alley, Harry apparated them back to Hogsmeade and set off at a brisk walk down the main street. “Come on Draco, we have to hurry before it gets cold!” he called over his shoulder.  
Once they made it back up to the castle Harry led them to the Slytherin common room and waited for Draco to let him in. Once they got back to the eighth year living area Harry began to unpack the food and silverware on the coffee table. Once he was finished he flopped down onto the couch besides and gestured to the containers declaring “Dinner is served.”  
Harry watched as Draco took a tentative bite of the dish. He couldn’t help but smiled when Draco immediately began to dig in after the first taste.  
“Potter, this is incredible,” he said with his mouth full, “I can’t believe I lived this long without this. We have to get it every week. Please?”  
Draco accentuated the request with a pouty face, and Harry felt like he had melted into a puddle on the floor “Of course,” He replied, trying not to let on how excited he was to get to hang out with Draco every weekend, “It’ll be our weekly ritual.”  
That seemed to satisfy Draco, as he continued to shove the food into his mouth. They ate happily in silence for a while longer, and when they had both finished Harry knew there was something he needed to say.  
“Hey Draco?” he started tentatively  
“Hm?” Draco offered by way of a response as he began to clean up.  
“Thanks. Like for the tattoo and everything and also just for hanging out and talking to me this week. I’ve been happier than I have been for months. So. Erm. Yeah. Thanks.” he finished awkwardly.  
Harry held his breath and waited for a response, hoping he hadn’t made it weird.  
Draco’s silvery grey eyes bore into Harry, as he seemed to be assessing Harry’s statement. God, Harry felt consumed by them. Just when Harry couldn’t take the deafening silence any longer, the corners of Draco’s mouth quirked up.  
“Anytime Harry. I’ve enjoyed hanging out with you too. Now get back to your own common room. I’ll see you Sunday to do homework, yeah?”  
Harry let out the breath he hadn’t realized he was holding and smiled. He was immensely glad that Draco had suggested they meet up sooner rather than waiting a whole week. “Yeah sounds good! See you then.”  
With that Harry let himself out of the Slytherin dungeons and made his way up to his dormitory. He proceeded to get ready for bed, but as he lay there trying all fall asleep, all he could think of way Draco smiling at him, telling him his tattoo was beautiful, nudging him.  
Merlin, he’d really done it this time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like the top half of Draco's sleeve would definitely incorporate the images from the Black and Malfoy crests, since family is so important to him, and I like to think that his soul mate tattoo (guess what it is) is hidden up on the inside of his bicep amidst all the other ink.


	6. Chapter 6

As the weeks went on, Harry kept his promise to Draco and every Friday, without fail, they ventured into muggle London to get Thai food to bring back to Hogwarts. They always ate in the Slytherin eighth year living room, and none of Harry’s friends ever inquired as to where he disappeared to on Friday nights, they just knew that since this had started he had been himself again. They had even let it slide that Draco and Harry seemed to be spending a little more time together around the castle than is strictly necessary for lab partners, but when Harry was in his right mind it was hard to make a fuss. When any of them would see Harry and Draco out on the grounds or in Hogsmeade, they waved at Harry and politely smiled at Draco. Harry’s happiness was worth it.  
Meanwhile Harry hadn’t felt this content since those stolen hours with Ginny in his sixth year, however he was slowly losing his mind. Everything Draco did, every comment, every mannerism, just seemed to make Harry like him more.  
Harry was pondering this on a chilly November morning, while he sat in the back of Charms thinking that there was no way Friday would come quickly enough for his liking. He felt bombarded at all times by his mind reminding him how much he fancied Draco. For example, just this past week Harry had noticed that when Draco, sitting several rows in front of him in Charms, was bored, he would doodle flowers and stars and other things of that sort on the green lining of his robe sleeves. His lovely fingers would jot them down quickly, and then he would smile softly if he was satisfied with it and scowl if he was not.  
Harry had not taken any notes all week. He loved the whole idea, he knew that no one would ever notice them, but he got glimpses of them when Draco was taking notes beside him in Potions. The quick drawing were somehow elegant and when Harry got to see them his insides squirmed, begging him to just make a move.  
But of course Harry knew he couldn’t. For one thing, Harry had no idea if Draco was gay, and for another, Draco was currently “keeping his options open”, according to what he’d told Harry the previous week at dinner when he had oh-so-subtly asked about any significant other or dating prospects. On top of that, Harry treasured his friendship with Draco too much to take the risk. So Harry just sat there next to Draco, day in and day out, trying to squelch his feelings and convince himself it was just a silly school crush.  
As rain started to fall outside, Harry sighed and turned back to face the front. This was not any less distracting, as Draco’s sleek blonde head reminded Harry of when Draco would comfort him after he had nightmares about The War. Draco would let him sleep in one of the empty beds in the dormitory, left behind by the Slytherins who didn’t return. Nott was never there and Draco said it was because he had a girlfriend in the year below and he usually was with her. So at least one night it was just Draco and Harry alone in the dorm, taking comfort in each others presence. They both slept with the curtains open facing the door now, and Harry’s view on these nights was always of the moonlight glinting off the almost whiteness of Draco’s hair.  
The tone that signified the end of class sounded and Harry sighed, tearing his mind away from his memories. Draco shot him a smile and waved before heading to his next glad. Damn it, why did he have to be so perfect? He was always there, checking in on Harry’s recovery, bringing him breakfast when he slept through it, and tutoring Harry in potions. How was Harry supposed to keep himself from falling for someone who was helping him so much, and just happened to be the most attractive person he had ever laid eyes on? Every time those silver eyes caught his he felt like he was drowning. Harry absentmindedly touched the spot on his hip where his soul mate mark was. Why couldn’t he have just met his soulmate already? Then he wouldn’t have to deal with all these stupid feelings.  
Once he had returned to Gryffindor tower, Harry flopped down on the couch, wondering how it was possible to feel so satisfied and defeated in life simultaneously. He was just starting to wonder if he should go flying to clear his head, when Ron returned from class and kicked his feet off the couch, sitting down next to him with an exhausted moan.  
“Blimey Harry, why did we agree to this?” Ron said with his eyes closed and his head resting on the back of the couch, “I am an eighteen year old man and I’ve got homework that will take me until next century.”  
“I don’t know, I would think all that running off you do to the Room of Requirement with Hermione might make up for it,” Harry said with a grin.  
Ron opened one eye to playfully glare at Harry “Watch it, if you’re gonna make fun of my sex life that gives me free reign to talk about you spending all you time with a pointy ferret.”  
“Ok, ok, truce” Harry chuckled “Anyway I think I’m going to grab my broom and a snitch and get a workout in, I don’t much feel like doing homework just yet.”  
“Sounds good. Just don’t get hurt in usual Potter fashion because I’m taking a nap and won’t respond to your distress call if you get struck by lightning or something.”  
“Deal. I’ll see you for dinner,” Harry said and got up to grab his quidditch stuff, wondering how he got so lucky to have a best friend like Ron.  
As Harry headed down to the quidditch pitch he breathed in the cool autumn air; the light rain felt refreshing after being stuck inside all day. He felt at peace for the first time in years, maybe ever. Instead of feeling useless because of the fall of Voldemort, he allowed himself to feel safe and excited for the future. He had gone to talk to Mcgonagall about future careers and he was feeling a lot better after opening up to options beyond Auror.  
As far as soul mates went, hanging out with Draco was an excellent break from all the matches Harry was usually around in Gryffindor. An added bonus to this was it made him less irritable around said couples. Ginny had written him a really nice letter telling him she was proud of him for his recovery progress and telling him all about her exciting life playing professional quidditch. They exchanged a few letters after and it was exactly the closure Harry had needed. He was confident they could be friends moving forward and he was happy that she and Oliver had each other.  
As Harry approached the pitch he noticed there was a figure already up there, doing a basic seeker’s workout. Even wet from the rain the person’s hair was very fair. Harry grinned up at Draco flying and instead of going into the locker room to put on quidditch gear, he decided to just stay in his robes. He made his way to sit down on the grass of the field, watching Draco’s graceful movements through the air.  
The rain was getting harder now, and Draco was becoming more difficult to see. Harry hoped he would come down soon, both because he was slightly worried about the visibility, and also because Harry was quite cold. At that moment, as if he had read Harry’s mind, Draco came hurtling toward the ground, landing spectacularly in a puddle and skidding to a halt directly in front of Harry, arms up as if he’d just stuck the landing of a perfect vault and beaming.  
“You’re a fucking showoff, you know that right?” Harry said, grinning and wiping the water off his glasses.  
“Don’t act like you’re not impressed, Potter,” Draco responded with a wink, which made Harry’s breath hitch.  
Harry had never seen Draco like this before. His wet hair was just barely falling into his eyes and his cheeks and lips were extremely pink from the cold wind, contrasting his pale complexion. His pupils were blown wide with all the adrenaline from flying. Harry’s gaze travelled lower and his shirt, oh merlin, his shirt. It was Slytherin green and stuck to his form with rain, revealing every outline of his abdomen and the definition of his arm muscles. It was a t-shirt, so Draco’s arms were exposed revealing most of Draco’s sleeve, making Harry’s mouth water with desire. Harry thought about that tattoo more than even he could pretend was healthy.  
“Er, Harry?” Draco said, and Harry’s eyes snapped back up to meet his, the same cool grey as always, the color that Harry had become so fond of.  
Harry didn’t trust himself to speak, he just knew he couldn’t stand this any longer. He was Harry sodding Potter after all, and he had never been afraid to take action before in his life and he wouldn’t be now. Instead of responding he simply took a step towards Draco. Draco stayed where he was. Harry took another step closer. Draco stayed put again. The look they were sharing made Harry’s skin erupt in goosebumps, and he was so close that he had to look slightly up to hold Draco’s gaze. He had imagined doing this so many times and now here he was, right in front of Harry, not backing away.  
His courage suddenly faltered. Why in the world had he thought this was a good idea? Surely if he backed away now he could pass this all off by saying Draco had a scrape on his face and he was merely trying to heal it. No need to do anything rash. Harry was just about to turn away when long, pale fingers wrapped around the knot of his tie. He heard a whispered “Oh Harry,” before Draco’s mouth came down to meet his.  
Harry was so shocked that it took his a few seconds to react, but once he realized what had happened he responded with enthusiasm; he tangled his fingers into Draco’s now soaked hair and opened his lips to allow their tongues to tentatively meet. Draco’s hands moved down to hold Harry’s hips and tug him forward so they were completely pressed together.  
Harry had no idea how long they stayed there in the rain, but kisses they were sharing were gentle and warm and everything a first kiss should be and Harry thought that he would be content to stay here in this moment forever. When the finally pulled away to catch their breath, Harry moved his hand down to cup Draco’s cheek, and Draco pressed into his palm. Their eyes stayed locked in silence.  
After several moments of holding each other, Draco leaned in and pressed a kiss to Harry’s forehead before saying “You need to remake the business cards. They need to say ‘vanquisher of evil, hero of the Wizarding World, master of dry wit, amazing kisser.”  
Harry laughed and planted a kiss on Draco’s cheek “Alright, and you can add ‘better kisser than expected’ to yours.”  
“I have a better idea,” Draco retorted “they can say ‘I get to kiss Harry Potter and you don’t.”  
“Love it,” Harry said, giving Draco a quick kiss on the lips, “Now let’s get back to the castle, it’s really coming down and I promised Ron I’d be back for dinner.”  
As they were heading back to the castle hand in hand, Harry suddenly became slightly nervous, “We, uh, we will be able to do this again right?” he asked, feeling silly for even asking given that Draco’s hand was holding his like he’d never let go.  
As a response, Draco grabbed Harry’s face and attacked Harry’s lips with an absolutely filthy open mouthed kiss. He pulled away and said, very matter of factly, “This Friday is going to be the best one yet,” Which made Harry blush very deeply, but also grin very wide.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had SO MUCH FUN writing this <3


	7. Chapter 7

Friday finally arrived and Harry was ecstatic to finally get to spend time with Draco the way he wanted, instead of just shy smiles across a library table and gentle brushes of hands during potions. What he was not prepared for was to be called into the headmistress's office while leaving potions. A small Gryffindor handed him a tightly furled scroll like Dumbledore used to send, with a summons and the password to the office written inside.  
He nudged Draco and showed him the note. Draco merely shrugged in response before turning towards the dungeons, leaving Harry to head towards Mcgonagall's office.  
“Oddball,” Harry told the gargoyle, as the note had instructed, and it leapt aside allowing Harry to enter.  
“Hello Mr. Potter, please have a seat,” Mcgonagall instructed.  
She didn’t seem mad, but Harry didn’t want to get his hopes up, wracking his brains for what he could have possibly done to get himself into trouble this time. Was being gay a reason to get summoned by the headmistress? Probably not, but he’d really kept his nose clean this year so it seemed as good a reason as any.  
“Have a biscuit,” she said with a faint smile, as if she also was remembering the last time she’d uttered that phrase. Harry took one and bit into it, chewing quietly and waiting for her to explain why he was here. “Don’t look so nervous, Harry, you’re not in trouble, though I know that’s new to you. I actually was just going to inquire about Mr. Malfoy. I understand you have been spending a lot of time together and I need you to know that if you’re planning some sort of petty payback with him I must advise against it. That boy is going through a lot and I know he’s trying to grow and I don’t need you doing something that could ruin it.” She shot him a glare over her cup of tea.  
Harry stared at her, dumbstruck, for several moments. He had been so preoccupied with his own issues and pain that he hadn’t really noticed Draco other than as his friend and crush. Now that he thought about it he realized that Draco was always alone when he wasn’t with Harry. Other than Harry’s closest friends, everyone else from the houses besides Slytherin just shot him glares. The only other company he’d seen Draco with was when he stayed after different classes to assist the professors.  
“Headmistress, I’m sorry you think that’s what I’m up to,” Harry said, finally finding his voice, “Honestly, Draco and I got partnered for potions and we realized we’re more similar than we are different.  
At the skeptical eyebrow raised at him in response to this statement, he continued “Really ma’am, I was in a really dark place after the War, and my soulmate tattoo didn’t turn out the way I wanted it to, and he’s been a comforting presence. I promise there’s no malice.” determinately not blushing while he imagined the last time he and Draco had been alone  
Mcgonagall’s face softened into a trusting and almost too knowing look. “I’m glad you two found each other then. I always felt you two could be good for each other in different circumstances. Thanks for coming in, Potter and enjoy your weekend.”  
“Thanks! I’ll see you around Professor,” Harry replied, grabbing another biscuit and hurrying out while Mcgonagall chuckled warmly.  
Even though it was only going on three in the afternoon, Harry decided to go get Draco so they could start their dinner routine early. He had been waiting for this all week, and his dreams, both night and day, had been filled with Draco. His desire couldn’t be held inside much longer.  
His feet knew the route by heart at this point and carried him without thinking down to the entrance to the Slytherin common room. The Slytherins knew by now that he was here to see Draco and, as always, someone let him follow them in. Today it happened to be an older student, probably a sixth year, who gave Harry a smirk as he entered behind him.  
Harry followed the long hallway off the common room all the way to the end and turned into the living area he had become so used to spending his Friday nights in. As he turned the corner he lost the ability to breathe.  
Draco was sprawled out on one of the couches flipping through the latest Which Broomstick catalogue. His fringe of his hair was tucked haphazardly behind his ear and the lamp behind his head illuminated his white blonde hair like a halo. He was shirtless and his tattoo was displayed in all its glory once again. However Harry’s eyes were drawn all the way down to Draco’s bottoms. He was wearing muggle sweatpants and it was the sexiest thing Harry had ever seen in his entire goddamn life. Draco had to have done this on purpose just to make Harry lose his mind.  
Draco looked up at him and grinned in the special was that made his eyes sparkle, reserved just for Harry. That was the last straw.  
“Fuck Draco,” Harry breathed, locking the door behind him as he all but sprinted across the room to straddle Draco’s legs, tossing the magazine aside as he did so. He ran his hands through the fine blonde hair and immediately attacked Draco’s mouth with his own. Draco’s hands immediately found Harry’s hips, moving their groins together in an easy rhythm.  
Only when he needed to break for air did he allow himself to pull back and drink in Draco’s beautiful form. There was so much perfection in one person that it overwhelmed him. Then Harry noticed something that seemed to make his heart fall out of his chest.  
Long raised scars travelled across the toned muscles of Draco’s chest; Harry hadn’t noticed them the last time he’d seen Draco shirtless as he was so pale that the scar tissue blended right in. He could see them now though, and he traced his fingers over the slightly raised lines. He felt nauseous.  
When he was finally able to meet Draco’s gaze it was with tears in his eyes. “I’m so sorry Draco. I never meant to hurt you like this.”  
“Hey, hey now dear, come on now,” Draco moved a hand up to cup Harry’s face “We’ve both done things we aren’t proud of. I know you didn’t mean to. I was in a dark place too. You were just trying to defend yourself.”  
The tears started to flow as Harry ran his hands up Draco’s chest and down his arms “All this talk about marking yourself, and I left these mark on you,” Harry choked out. “I don’t deserve to look at how beautiful you are when I did this to you.”  
Draco’s cheeks colored slightly at the compliment, but he smiled, pressing a kiss softly to Harry’s lips. He wiped the tears streaming down Harry’s face away and hugged him to his chest, speaking softly, “Harry you saved my life time and time again. You don’t need to be so dramatic, darling. Besides, I think I look a little more badass this way.”  
Harry choked out a shaky laugh and was finally able to raise himself up to his elbows. He smiled up at Draco and slowly kissed his way along the scars, stopping as he passed the nipples to gently nip at them.  
“Merlin, Harry. Even if I hadn’t forgiven you months ago, this would more than make up for it,” Draco moaned as he threw his head back. He pulled Harry back up to kiss him, then leaned in to nibble at his earlobe. “You don’t get to have all the fun though,” He whispered into Harry’s ear before flipping them over so that now Draco was on top, straddling Harry’s thighs and planting his hands on either side of Harry’s head.  
He quickly pulled off Harry’s t-shirt so that their bare torsos were pressed together as they kissed fiercely. After some very impressive wandless magic on Draco’s part, both their pants were vanished, and the were down to their underwear. Harry could feel Draco’s hardness pressing against his own.  
Draco softly kissed Harry’s lips once more before kissing and licking at Harry’s neck, coaxing soft groans out of him. Draco went to scoot Harry’s underpants down, and then stopped suddenly, toppling off of Harry, landing on the floor in a heap of limbs.  
“For the love of Merlin Draco, what happened?” Harry yelped as he sprang off the couch to help Draco up.  
He offered a hand to help Draco up, but Draco was merely staring wide-eyed up at Harry as though he was seeing him clearly for the first time. Harry was getting slightly uneasy under the intense gaze and was about to say something when Draco’s face split into a smile like Harry had never seen before. It wasn’t until now that Harry realized that Draco had been holding back. Now he seemed to be completely unguarded. What in the...  
“Harry you’re not going to fucking believe this. Well maybe you will because it makes perfect sense and was probably obvious, but anyway. Harry. My love. Your soulmate tattoo.” Draco almost yelled in his excitement as he pointed to Harry’s hip.  
Harry looked down at the small wand tattoo now exposed by his low slung boxers. “Yeah? What about it?” he inquired.  
In response, Draco lifted his left arm. Harry thought he was flexing for one absurd second, before realizing that Draco was pointing to something in his tapestry of tattoo, nestled in the crease of his bicep. Harry saw what he was pointing at and promptly fainted.  
When he came to, Draco was sitting over him, holding Harry’s head in his lap, attempting to cool him off with a conjured fan. “Please tell me that wasn’t a dream” Harry croaked, rubbing his temples unable to believe these stupid tattoos had caused him to pass out for a second time.  
“Not a dream, baby. You’re stuck with me,” Draco responded, positively beaming.  
Harry grabbed Draco’s arm and observed for himself just to make sure. There it was. A wand tattoo, just like his, with little stars coming out of the tip was very well hidden amongst the other art within the sleeve.  
Harry burst out laughing “Oh my god,” he gasped “I thought it was so deep, and it turns out me and my soulmate literally just shared a wand.”  
He wrapped Draco up in a hug, burying his face in Draco’s chest and holding tight like he would never let go.  
They stayed like this for a long time, until Draco realized Harry was dozing off. He cast a feather-light charm on the snoozing man and carried him up to bed. Draco laid Harry into is bed and crawled in next to him. He took of Harry’s glasses and set them on the bedside table with both their wands. He pressed a kiss into Harry’s impossibly messy hair and snuggled into him, closing his eyes. Sure he had expected to get laid tonight, but this was so much better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who's stuck around this long for my first multi-chapter :)


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things get a lil heated but not graphic i promise

When Harry regained consciousness the next morning, he felt for Draco on the bed beside him, wanting to pull him close and nuzzle into his neck. But it was empty. Of course it had all been a dream. How could it not have been? He felt so stupid for believing that everything could have fallen into place like that. He had really let himself think that he and this boy that he had fallen so hard for could be together.  
There were tears burning in the corners of his eyes as he refused to open them. Things were no different than yesterday, but Harry could say with certainty that “Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all” was complete bullshit. To feel so completely filled up only to get immediately drained was pain like he hadn’t felt before. This was worse than finding out Ginny wasn’t his soulmate. This was a hurt all its own.  
Harry took a deep shuddering breath before wrenching his eyes open, determined to face the world and not let himself fall apart again. Not when he and everyone he loved (especially Draco, his traitorous mind chimed in) had worked so hard to put him back together.  
However his eyes were met with violent greenness, not scarlet. Harry gasped softly to himself as he realized he was in Draco’s bed.  
“Harry, baby?” a voice came from the doorway and Harry sat bolt upright to look, not daring to believe his eyes as the most glorious sight stood before him, Draco, still in his travelling cloak, with a huge bouquet of lilies in one hand and his wand, levitating two coffees, in the other.  
“I’m sorry love, I went to Hogsmeade to pick up surprises for you and I really thought I’d be back before you woke up. Jeez, you look a bit distraught, I shouldn't have left without telling you,” Draco said as his eyebrows creased with concern.  
Harry let out an ugly sob of joy, while at the same time beaming. “You great prat, I thought it had all been a dream and I know now more than ever that I can’t do this without you. Please be my boyfriend,” The words tumbled out of his mouth before he was able to stop them. Looks like he was going for broke.  
He didn’t even have time to be nervous about the response before Draco was at his bedside. Draco placed the flowers in his lap and held out the coffee to Harry. When Harry reached out for it, Draco pulled it away and instead grabbed his hand and pressed a kiss to the palm. “I would be honored. It’s official, my love,” Draco whispered, pulling Harry in for a gentle kiss, “Now get dressed love, and let’s make it known.”  
Moments later they found themselves racing down the hallway, hand in hand. Harry was laughing the whole way to Gryffindor common room. He felt so light it was like flying. He looked over at Draco while they ran and he saw a face that mirrored his own joy. People stared at them as they passed but all it did was make him even happier. All they were seeing was him with his beautiful boyfriend. HIS boyfriend. No one else’s. He and Draco were soulmates and no one could ever take him away.  
They finally arrived outside the Fat Lady’s portrait and clambered through into the common room. He saw Ron, Hermione, Dean, and Seamus and made a beeline for them, dragging Draco along with him. Neville must be out with Luna but he’d tell him later; Harry was about to burst with excitement.  
“HEY GUYS!” Harry shouted as he approached his friends. He stopped abruptly in front of the now expectant faces, still holding tight onto Draco’s hand.  
“Well well,” said Seamus with a smirk, “We’re finally going to get an explanation for the mysterious time spent with THE Draco Malfoy.”  
Harry was taken aback by the forwardness, but quickly righted himself. “You all are my closest friends, so I wanted you to be the first ones I introduce my boyfriend to,”  
These words were met with a blank look from all four faces. Hermione’s then surpassed blank and became worried or even scared. “Harry, I know you’ve had a rough few months but…” she began.  
This was where Harry began to panic. Were they not going to accept this? Would finding the love of his love mean losing his friends? He glanced sideways at Draco and saw sadness in his eyes, hidden to anyone’s eyes except Harry’s by the cool mask his features were arranged into.  
Then it hit Harry. His friends weren’t being judgemental; they just didn’t want the Ginny incident to happen all over again. He hadn’t explained to them how it was different.  
Harry let out a sigh of relief and smiled at his friends. “Guys don’t worry. Check this out.” At which point he promptly pulled Draco’s cloak off, and his t-shirt up over his head.  
“OI MATE” Dean hollered, shielding his eyes, “I know he’s fit but come on have some decency.”  
Harry simply laughed and finished getting Draco’s top half of cloths off (which caused all of them to peak with interest at Draco’s sleeve) before lifting up Draco’s left arm into a flexing pose and pointed triumphantly at the little waving wand that had changed his life.  
The response this time was much more satisfactory. Dean and Seamus tackled him simultaneously into a hug with a cry of “We knew it!” knocking him off his feet. Hermione gasped and sat down on the couch, her eyes welling up with emotion, while Ron smiled and laid a hand on her shoulder, offering Harry congratulations. Meanwhile, Draco watched this whole scene, roaring with laughter as he realized that his boyfriend’s best friends were happy for them. This could actually work.  
In the end they ended up sitting in a circle in front of the fire, and Harry and Draco told them all about how their love had blossomed over the months, bringing them to this point. The conversation lasted all the way until dinnertime, when all the Gryffindors got up and started to make their way to the Great Hall, all of them shaking hands with Draco and thanking him for making Harry so happy.  
Harry got up to follow his friends but Draco caught Harry’s and pulled him back down to the rug. He held his hand over Harry’s mouth until the common room had completely emptied.  
“Shh. Stay here with me, and I’ll make missing dinner worth your while.” Draco said softly into his ear, letting his warm breath flow across the sensitive skin.  
Harry could confirm as he laid in Draco's arms some time later that he had made good on that promise. When Gryffindor house returned from dinner, they walked in on happy soulmates, warm and snoozing. Each and every member of the house smiled as they walked past toward the dorms. Even people that hadn’t outright predicted this were not surprised. They were a perfect match and both deserved the happiness it brought them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is my last regular chapter. I'll be putting up an epilogue soon :)


	9. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A short little Draco POV fluff to finish out :)

Draco looked in the mirror and straightened his tie. He supposed he looked as good as he could have hoped. For all his father’s talk about Malfoys having historically good looks, he really couldn’t figure out how Harry thought his pointy features and pale complexion could possibly be beautiful.  
But Harry was really excited about this anniversary dinner; he’d been talking about it for weeks but all he would say about it is that Draco should dress nice. The rest was a secret. He was wearing his nicest outfit: a light blue silk shirt that Harry had bought for him and a thin black tie, paired with his nicest black trousers.  
It was three years to they day since he and Harry had discovered they were soulmates. Since then they had both passed all their NEWTS and moved into Grimmauld Place together after leaving Hogwarts. Draco was working for a large potions distributer doing research, while also working towards becoming a master so he could start his own company. Harry had just finished up his training to become a healer at St. Mungo's and he was working with some of his superiors on a program to make sure when muggleborn children got the help they needed when they were magically hurt or sick.  
Draco smiled at the thought of their accomplishments. He was so proud of himself and Harry for how well they were doing. They had made something of themselves despite their dark pasts. At that moment arms wrapped around his waist and a pair of bright green eyes accompanied by a mop of messy black hair popped up over his shoulder.  
“Ready to go, love?” Harry asked, giving him a peck on the cheek.  
Draco spun around in Harry’s arms, wrapping his own around Harry’s neck. His boyfriend looked amazing as always in a maroon shirt that really accentuated his tan skin and khakis, with a blazer over top. The smile Harry gave him was intoxicating and Draco couldn’t help himself from leaning down to kiss Harry, slowly and sweetly.  
When he finally pulled away, he was reveling in how lucky he was. He was still excited to wake up next to Harry after three years and he didn’t think it would ever stop. He’d been thinking about proposing but he was positive Harry wasn’t at that point yet and he didn’t want to rush him. The time would come and they had forever to figure it out.  
“Of course dear. My fate is in your hands. Lead me to the festivities,” Draco said, holding out his hand with a grin.  
Harry winked and apparated them both to an alley, and as Draco got his bearings, the place seemed familiar to him. Wait a second.  
Harry’s smile was mischievous as he pulled Draco around the corner and through the door of their Thai restaurant. They had continued to come here every Friday until they graduated, but hadn’t been back here since the had left school. He smirked. Typical Potter, being sentimental and sappy for their anniversary.  
Draco’s mouth fell open as he looked around the restaurant. He had been prepared when he walked in to see the old owner, a man who had become a friend as he always greeted them and took their order. What he wasn’t prepared for was the fact that his mother and father, Aunt Andromeda and Teddy, as well as all the Weasleys were all present. By the time his eyes made it all the way around the room and back to Harry, the man was down on one knee and Draco’s breath caught in his throat.  
“Draco Lucius Malfoy,” Harry began, pulling out a small box from his breast pocket tears already appearing in his eyes, “This is where I fell in love with you and this is where I want to make my love known in the best way I can.” He opened the box, revealing a platinum band with a glittering emerald before continuing “Everyday I am so thankful that you came to me. You picked me up out of my darkest hour and I’m so lucky to call you my soulmate.” He wiped away a tear and had to take a deep breath before he was able to get out his last sentiment “And I know you’ll probably tease me for being so emotional but Draco, I love you with all my heart. Will you do me the honor of marrying me?”  
For the first time he could remember, Draco was speechless. He wanted nothing more than for Harry to be his husband, but he couldn’t get the words out. He looked over to his mother who gave him a small smile and a nod, giving him the strength to speak.  
“Yes, Harry. I can’t imagine ever being without you. I love you too.” Draco choked out, tears spilling down his face.  
The crowd clapped for them as Harry slid the ring on to Draco’s finger, pulling him into a kiss as he did so.  
They spent the rest of the night being congratulated by family and friends, eating Thai food, and enjoying each other. They were side by side for the rest of the night, Harry keeping a possessive hand on Draco’s hip the whole time, which made Draco quite sure about what they would get up to when they got home. Draco knew it was cliche but he was the happiest man alive. And now he would be for the rest of his life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The beast is finally done! Thank you guys so much for sticking with me. It means a ton to me and your support helped me to grow as a writer.


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